2019 Self Insured Resolutions – Looking Back To 2018 2017 2016

2019 Self Insured Resolutions Come From Prior Years

The 2019 Self Insured Resolutions analysis follows the same path as the voluntary market 2019 resolutions published last week.

Follow these links back to look those over for your 2019 resolutions:

• 2016 Self Insured Resolutions
• 2017 Self Insured Resolutions 
• 2018 Self Insured Resolutions 

The 2019 Self insured resolutions are modifications to the 2018 Resolutions.   In other words, did you do the 2016 – 2018 resolutions?  The 2017 and 2018 Self Insured Resolutions were:

2017 Resolutions – Still important

1. Obtain and know your LDF (Loss Development Factor)  – still as important as ever.  If you do not know where you are on the map, how can you find your way anywhere?
2. Working relationship with adjusters – the adjusters are spending directly out of a budget or bank account.  Communicating by email (see #3) lets the adjusting staff know that your company follows the workers compensation payouts very closely. 
3. Use email – not phone calls
4. Conquer Your TPA expenses – Self Insureds are sounding off on this one in late 2018 and early 2019.  Many of our potential and current clients have taken notice of their sharply increased TPA expenses.  Do not ignore this area!
5. Watch the Learning Curve for Accident Spikes – when the economy increases, so do claims.  The increases are a natural result of more work hours.  Safety becomes even more important.
6. Use online access when available
7. Attend A Workers Comp or Safety Conference
8. Subscribe to our weekly Newsletter
9. Obtain Your Loss Runs – you have these at your fingertips, right?  If not,  you are not following your claims closely enough to make an impact.
10. Write an article on Workers Comp.

 2018 Resolutions – Finish these up

You did these in 2018, No, then what are you waiting on to Cut Your Comp Costs and fulfill your 2019 self insured resolutions?

1. Not being Self Insured is an option.  Employers need to have a large amount of cash or equity on hand to handle claims.  Reinsurance can only do so much if your company has a bad claims year or two.
2. Construct a Request For Proposal (RFP) – See #4 in the 2017 Resolutions.  An RFP remains a great risk management technique to control TPA expenses.
3. Unbundle your required vendor services with multiple RFPs – still, a great method to save on claim expense payments.
4. Ad-hoc print your loss runs – you did obtain this ability from your TPA?  No? then do something about it now.
5. Working relationship with adjusters – a self insured must do this from day one with their respective TPA’s adjusters.  You do know their name, right?  If not, find that out this week.
6.  Each state in which you operate has its own set of minimum rules for being self-insured – for companies considering becoming self insured.   One very common minimum is $500,000 of liquid assets in that state.   You cannot have just $1.3 million in your HQ state and count that asset figure in every state of your operation.  Each and every state must have the $500,000 (Ouch!)
7. An alternative to LDF’s – Loss Development Factors is SynthMods(R).   We calculate those for self insureds.  They are basically E-Mods instead of LDF’s.  SynthMods rate your company with the Experience Mods like you were still in a regular workers comp policy.   They are an alternative to LDF’s.   I am calculating one now for a self insured governmental agency.
8. Understand all your TPA expenses.  That is a holdover from above 2017 resolutions.  Why does this one appear twice?  Self insureds have become very aware of increasing TPA expenses – these also include the vendors the TPA uses if you have not chosen your own vendors.
9. Take your self insured program in- house.   A very tough choice.  The final result is a sharp reduction in claims handling and payment budgets.  Watch the Law of Large Numbers here.   You need to have a large workers comp budget to do the claims in-house.
10. Go back and read all the resolutions I have written.  Even if the resolutions are not specifically for self insureds, you can glean great information.  The resolution search is here.
11. Bonus – Full online access to your claims – you did obtain full access.  No? Then contact your TPA today.

There are many more resolutions which could be added to the list.   The bottom line is your company needs to stop and make sure all the bases are covered using the 2016 – 2018 resolutions.   Yes, a serious 2016 – 2018 resolution review equates to having finished your 2019 self insured resolutions.

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